Discussions By Condition: I cannot get a diagnosis.

Need help. What do I have?

April 2nd had a fever that started around 6pm that moved to my neck but after taking 2 aspirin at 11pm and woke back up at midnight it was gone.

April 3rd had a sore throat that lasted till the 4th.

Felt fine from April 5th -18th on the 18th just kind of felt tired and slept from about the time I got home from work (5pm) till the next day around 10am. The 19th was about the same I went to bed around 8pm and woke up on the 20th at 5am for work

From the 20th – the 24th I felt fine

On the 25th I felt tired and had a little fatigue so I went to sleep at around 5pm and slept till noon the next day.

26th I felt fine

From April 27th – May 7th I would wake up feeling great but then around 11am or noon I would start feeling fatigued but not be tired. Also around May 1st I started to have pain in my left under arm and discomfort under my right arm (not sure if it was lymph nodes). All of this went away around the 8th of May.

From May 8th till May 23rd I was fine.

Around May 23rd or 24th I started to have very itchy skin, mostly on my arms, legs, and head (very little on my chest and none on my back). This lasted till about the 27th of May.

From May 27th – June 14th I have felt fine.

Then on the 15th my joints in my fingers and hands hurt very bad, and the pain in my left under arm and discomfort under my right arm started back up and have been having pain in my neck (I am guessing lymph nodes). I also had some discomfort around the left side of my chest where my heart is.

7 Replies:

Could be shingles; there is an iGg antibody test that you can ask for when you see your doctor. You should get a mammogram (if you're a female) and thyroid test, too. You could have another virus, but you need blood tests.

i hate to say this so early in the piece but it seriously sounds like "slow onset" chronic fatigue immunity dysfunction syndrome (CFS) with the flu like symptoms (which is classical for CFS) and the on and off of the actual illness. This is how CFS starts for over half CFS people. If your issue continues and doctors are slumped at what is wrong.. i then suggest you start researching CFIDS (it can cause all the symptoms you are getting). (good site to research it is www.immunesupport.com). .................................... If you just had a normal virus.. one wouldnt expect to be getting those on and off symptoms. Viruses usually run their course and then one recovers. Reactivation can occur in some viruses.. but it's usually only if someone has something wrong with their immune system etc. Mono was suggested, but mono would usually just run it's course and not be on and off like you describe (unless you had immune system issue) or IF you are returning to work and doing things before you are recovered???? (that can retrigger symptoms). I had severe mono in the past..for me it was constant..then after time, depending on how bad it affects someone (for me I was bedridden for 10-12 weeks!!) one usually recover from it (I now have CFS thou). Mono usually runs it's course in 4-8 weeks, one shouldnt be getting even more symptoms from mono this late in it if you had mono esp if at times you are recovered.... To me it sounds as if you have something other than mono (thou do get checked for it)..................

Mono was suggested, but mono would usually just run it's course and not be on and off like you describe (unless you had immune system issue) or IF you are returning to work and doing things before you are recovered???? (that can retrigger symptoms). I had severe mono in the past..for me it was constant..then after time, depending on how bad it affects someone (for me I was bedridden for 10-12 weeks!!) one usually recover from it (I now have CFS thou). Mono usually runs it's course in 4-8 weeks, one shouldnt be getting even more symptoms from mono this late in it if you had mono esp if at times you are recovered.... To me it sounds as if you have something other than mono (thou do get checked for it).................. Well I did continue to work while I was like this seeing as I have bills to pay. I only went home one day half way into my shift. I have not had any fatigue though since April. Only things that I have had since is the itchy skin (lasted only about a week), pain in my joints in my fingers and hands (lasted only about 2 days), and the pain in my left under arm, discomfort under my right arm and neck (I am guessing lymph nodes). Also when I wake up in the morning I feel fine. It is about 2-3 hours after I get up that anything starts to bother me. Today I have felt fine with exception of a little discomfort in my neck.

So today I woke up feeling great. Nothing hurt and loads of energy. I get cleaned up for work and start getting hungry after being there for an hour (around 10am). So I grabbed two donuts and a glass of milk and went back to work. About half an hour latter I started to get a little tired and then fatigue hit in. so I talk to my boss about if I can get into see my doctor can I go and she says yeah. I call him and he is out to lunch. So I get a hold of someone in his office around 1pm to make an appointment and she tells me that he is going on vacation after today and is full for the rest of it (same thing happened last time I went to see him after being bit by a spider). I tell her about my lymph nodes in my left arm and on the left side of my neck being swollen and that I have been having sinus problems (have had this since around this all started but I have them every year around this time). She called back saying they will call in an antibiotic at a local Wal-Greens for me to pick up. After I get back from lunch (around 2pm) I feel almost 100% again, just a little bit of discomfort on the left side of my neck.

Each person reacts differently to mono - some people have fatigue all the time and some people don't. You can't generalize based on your own personal symptoms. I just have one question - no one in this saga do I see that you have gone to see your doctor and symptoms have been occuring since april. no one here is going to really have any idea what is going on unless we (those of us who are medical professionals) can do a physical exam or run labs. BTW - fatigue hitting after donuts and milk could just be coming down off a sugar spike.I am still voting on mono - especially with swollen lymph nodes and fatigue and joint/muscle pain. Fits the best.